Up and doing
This is not the thing I was going to post about today, but just for the record, I have had a productive day. I'm writing this down because it feels like I haven't had very many of those for a Very Long Time. Today I have:
* got lots of work done, including a) making inroads on some very boring documentation that I've been procrastinating about, and b) writing a perl script that I've been meaning to write for about 3 years (to do a tedious bit of testing/admin that I have to keep doing badly by hand, so now a) I can do it better and b) I can let someone else do it)
* been to an Oxford Cycle Workshop seminar about safe cycling (which was jolly good, and I wish it was compulsory for anybody who's planning to ride a bike on the roads, & I may write about that separately too)
* emailed Oxford Bus Company about the gloves I left on the bus on Sunday, in the hope that someone will have handed them in (otherwise... my lovely sparkly rainbow gloves, gone! SADFACE.JPG!)
* emailed the NCT about their "Happy Birth Day" book about pregnancy/childbirth to ask them why an otherwise useful & fairly comprehensive book doesn't mention a single thing about cycling, either under 'travel' (which only mentions driving and flying -- walking presumably doesn't count as travel either, bah) or under 'exercise'. I don't mind if they turn out to think it's a bad idea, I just think they should say something about it!
* crossed off two "email X about Y" tasks on my list having decided I don't actually need to do them (letting go of tasks is sometimes harder than doing them), one because I'll see the person soon enough & the other because it's Just Not Important
* folded all the laundry that was on the line
* installed new speakers, replacing the ones which had an intermittent buzzing sound & kept dropping a channel & had therefore made it impossible to listen to CDs here for ages. The speakers are possibly fixable, but I am not the person to fix them. The new speakers are the cheapest ones Richer Sounds sold (£30) and they sound absolutely fine to my amateur ears, crystal clear and -- most importantly -- no bloody buzzing sound. 'Installing' the speakers was not exactly complicated but did involve wrestling with the hi-fi cabinet (which has a tiny sphincter-like opening at the back for all the cables to go through) and stripping the ends of the speaker cables (with my teeth! like my dad does! and like my mum always tells him not to!).
* sorted out another batch of books to give away (and shuffled some other books round a bit on the shelves) & in so doing made enough space to move some of the stuff off the floor in the dining room, so we could now theoretically get FOUR or maybe FIVE PEOPLE sitting round the table at once!
This burst of energy coincides with ACTUAL MOVEMENT INSIDE from the little alien baby (sorry but it still does look like an alien to me on the scans). Yes, it appears that what I need to stop me procrastinating about stuff is for someone to kick me from the inside.
* got lots of work done, including a) making inroads on some very boring documentation that I've been procrastinating about, and b) writing a perl script that I've been meaning to write for about 3 years (to do a tedious bit of testing/admin that I have to keep doing badly by hand, so now a) I can do it better and b) I can let someone else do it)
* been to an Oxford Cycle Workshop seminar about safe cycling (which was jolly good, and I wish it was compulsory for anybody who's planning to ride a bike on the roads, & I may write about that separately too)
* emailed Oxford Bus Company about the gloves I left on the bus on Sunday, in the hope that someone will have handed them in (otherwise... my lovely sparkly rainbow gloves, gone! SADFACE.JPG!)
* emailed the NCT about their "Happy Birth Day" book about pregnancy/childbirth to ask them why an otherwise useful & fairly comprehensive book doesn't mention a single thing about cycling, either under 'travel' (which only mentions driving and flying -- walking presumably doesn't count as travel either, bah) or under 'exercise'. I don't mind if they turn out to think it's a bad idea, I just think they should say something about it!
* crossed off two "email X about Y" tasks on my list having decided I don't actually need to do them (letting go of tasks is sometimes harder than doing them), one because I'll see the person soon enough & the other because it's Just Not Important
* folded all the laundry that was on the line
* installed new speakers, replacing the ones which had an intermittent buzzing sound & kept dropping a channel & had therefore made it impossible to listen to CDs here for ages. The speakers are possibly fixable, but I am not the person to fix them. The new speakers are the cheapest ones Richer Sounds sold (£30) and they sound absolutely fine to my amateur ears, crystal clear and -- most importantly -- no bloody buzzing sound. 'Installing' the speakers was not exactly complicated but did involve wrestling with the hi-fi cabinet (which has a tiny sphincter-like opening at the back for all the cables to go through) and stripping the ends of the speaker cables (with my teeth! like my dad does! and like my mum always tells him not to!).
* sorted out another batch of books to give away (and shuffled some other books round a bit on the shelves) & in so doing made enough space to move some of the stuff off the floor in the dining room, so we could now theoretically get FOUR or maybe FIVE PEOPLE sitting round the table at once!
This burst of energy coincides with ACTUAL MOVEMENT INSIDE from the little alien baby (sorry but it still does look like an alien to me on the scans). Yes, it appears that what I need to stop me procrastinating about stuff is for someone to kick me from the inside.